


A Change In The Game

by FairyTaleAdventures



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27362998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyTaleAdventures/pseuds/FairyTaleAdventures
Summary: This work is the result of a combination of requests that just so happened to fit together nicely.This was originally supposed to be a part of my “Journey of Us” series, but it sort of got away from me.
Relationships: Audrey Lim/Neil Melendez
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	A Change In The Game

“Are you ready to go?” Neil asked Audrey. He was leaning against the door frame to her office, jacket on and car keys dangling from his thumb.

“Yeah, just give me a minute,” she responded, not making a move to get up from her desk. Instead, she flipped the page in the patient file spread out in front of her, grazed a line on the document with her index finger, and scribbled something down on her notepad. 

Neil knew it had been a particularly stressful day for her. During his lunch break, he had passed her in the hallway as she was on her way into an emergency surgery after a baby boy had been brought into the ER by his frantic parents. The trauma seemed to have stemmed from an unknown source and while the young boy was currently stable, Audrey was having a particularly difficult time letting this case go.

Sensing she wasn’t about to stop anytime soon, Neil walked fully into the room and stood beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. “There’s nothing you can do tonight that will help that baby,” he said. “They’re running more tests and he will be monitored closely throughout the night. Only time will tell.”

“You’re right,” she sighed, putting the pen down and rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands, clear exhaustion written all over her features. “I just want to make sure I didn’t miss anything.” 

“Considering how long we’ve worked together, I’m confident in saying it’s unlikely you did.” Audrey smiled in appreciation. “Come on, let’s go home.”

She complied, closing the file, placing it in the top drawer of the desk and standing so she could gather her things to go. Before Audrey could even reach for her jacket hanging on the back of her chair, she began to sway on her feet. As her vision became fuzzy, she leaned into Neil for support while gripping her desk with a force that made her knuckles turn white.

“Audrey?” Neil asked, suddenly concerned by her rapid change of demeanour. 

She tried to say his name, but before she could get the full syllable out, her eyes rolled back into her head and the weight of her body fell limp into his arms. Thinking fast, Neil blindly shouted for help before lowering Audrey safely to the ground, cradling her head in his hands as he continuously called out her name.

“Audrey. Hey Audrey wake up,” Neil tried, tapping her cheek lightly with the tips of his fingers. 

Morgan was the first one to enter the room. She noticed Neil crouched down by the corner of the desk and rushed to his side. “What happened?” She questioned.

“I don’t know. She stood up too fast, or she forgot to eat today - maybe a combination of the two, but she lost consciousness and fell into me.”

“At least you were there to catch her,” Morgan commented then turned her attention to Audrey who was beginning to stir. “Dr. Lim, are you okay?” 

Her eyes opened and she blinked rapidly, staring up at the two faces above her until they came into vision. 

“Hey,” Neil said softly. “Welcome back.”

Audrey brought a hand to her forehead, squinting slightly. “What happened?” 

“You fainted,” he answered, helping her sit up. Audrey groaned at the movement. 

“We’re going to get you checked out,” Morgan said. 

“I’m fine,” Audrey objected. In an attempt to prove her point, with the help of Neil, she tried to stand only to have another wave of dizziness wash over her. Neil instinctively wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her. 

“You’re not fine,” he argued. “You’ve never fainted before.”

“I probably just forgot to drink enough water today.” 

Neil frowned. “That’s not a good enough excuse and you know it. Will you please let someone look over you? If not for yourself, at least do it for me.” 

Audrey was about to protest when she met Neils eyes. He was worried, his expression pleading at her to give into his request. “Okay,” she surrendered. 

He smiled. “good.” Removing her jacket from the back of her chair, he wrapped the layer over Audrey’s shoulders and with his hand on the small of her back, ushered her out the office and towards an empty patient room.

. 

Audrey, now clothed in a clean hospital gown, was sitting up in a patient bed, the sheets pulled to her waist with Neil sitting in a chair beside her, her hand gripped firmly in his. A nurse had left a little while ago after having completed an ECG and obtaining some blood samples and they were now waiting patiently on the results. 

As Neil expected she would, Audrey protested when the nurse walked in with a hospital gown and asked her to change into it. “I’m only staying until the tests results come in to show that I am perfectly healthy and this was the result of some minor underlying cause” is what Audrey had said. In response, Neil reminded her of her brush with death years previously. She rolled her eyes but grabbed the grown nonetheless. Neil’s constant fretfulness was sweet, but in the moment she was finding it incredibly annoying - even if he had a point.

With a loud knock on the door, Morgan entered the room with a chart in hand. Unknowingly, Audrey’s grip on Neil’s fingers tightened, betraying her calm exterior. He reacted immediately, putting his free hand on the spot just above her knee and giving it a reassuring squeeze then turned his attention to Morgan, prompting her to give them the news. 

“Dr. Lim,” Morgan started, a large smile on her face. “It looks like congratulations are in order.” 

“I’m sorry?” Audrey responded. 

“You’re pregnant.”

Audrey blinked. Her mouth fell open, but no words came out. Neil, on the other hand, lit up, his eyes wide as he turned his attention from Morgan to Audrey, pure awe written on his face.

After a moment, Audrey found her voice. “There has to be some mistake.” She removed her hand from Neil’s grip and reached for the paperwork. “Can I see those?” 

Morgan handed her the chart. “The blood work doesn’t lie.”

She stared down at the chart, her eyes darting rapidly across the page, searching for answers. She read the graph clearly highlighting the increase of pregnancy hormones in her system and once she was done, she read it again. According to the graph, she was well within the early stages but only a few weeks away from when she would start showing.

Still doubting the results, she flipped through the pages, double checking that these results were in fact registered under her name and it was her blood that had been tested. When she was confident everything was accurate, she felt her eyes well up with tears, a fat drop sliding down her cheek and landing on the page. Audrey quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand. Feeling his own eyes begin to glisten with unshed tears of happiness, Neil leaned in to place a kiss on her head, letting his lips linger for a long moment.

“I’ll give you two some privacy.” Morgan said, excusing herself from the room.

Silence filled the space as Neil stood there with Audrey in his arms and Audrey staring disoriented at the paperwork in her hands.

Once the initial shock had subsided and Audrey was able to form a complete thought, she said, “this is not what we planned.”

“Hey,” Neil said softly, doing his best to contain his excitement. “This is good news.”

“You’re happy?” 

“Of course I’m happy. Are you not?”

“I’m-“ Audrey hesitated. “I don’t know what I’m feeling.” 

“That’s okay,” Neil reassured. He sat down on the edge of the bed, his legs hanging off the side as he placed a hand on either side of her legs. “We weren’t expecting this.”

“No we certainly weren’t.” She shook her head, more tears sliding down her cheeks. 

It was overwhelming to say the least. The last thing either of them expected when they walked into work that morning was to learn they were pregnant. They hadn’t talked about it. At least not in great detail. Neil had brought it up one evening as they were lying in bed, arms wrapped around one another. The question came up after they had assisted on an operation that saved the lives of twin baby girls. So thrilled from that day’s success, when Neil had asked her, Audrey had hummed contently and said she would be open to the idea. It wasn’t a yes, but it certainly wasn’t a no. That was the only time the subject had been brought up. After that, Audrey didn’t really put a lot of thought into it. Life with Neil was good. They were happy. Plus they had been engaging in unprotected sex for close to two years. Audrey figured if it hadn’t happened during the first few months, it wasn’t bound to happen any time in the future so she stopped thinking about it.

Now here they were several months later, suddenly thrown off balance by the addition of this news. 

“Do you think we can do this?” Audrey asked. 

“I know we can.”

Audrey nodded, exhaling audibly. 

“Marry me,” Neil said.

Audrey let out a sob and a laugh at the same time. “Neil, I know you were brought up in a religious household, but this is no longer the nineteenth century. We can have a child out of wedlock.”

Neil reached for his jacket hanging off the back of the chair and fumbled with the pocket before he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a small square box and held it out to her.

“I’ve had it for a couple months,” he confessed. “I’ve been waiting for the right time to ask you.” He laughed softly, the sound coming out as more of a choked sob. “But I always lost the nerve.”

“Neil-“ she was at a loss of words. She took the box from his hand. Her index finger grazed the navy velvety exterior of the box as if it were made of a material from a rare ancient relic.

“You don’t have to answer right now,” Neil reassured. “You can take some time to think about it. Just know that I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I would have asked you sooner or later, whether we had a baby on the way or not.” His eyes met hers. “A baby,” Neil breathed out in astonishment. “We’re having a baby.” His smile was so big, Audrey couldn’t help but feel her own lips curve upwards. He was so happy and the fact that she got to experience this moment with him was a joy she’d never forget. 

“Yes,” Audrey said. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

Leaning in, Audrey’s eyes fluttered closed as Neil captured her lips in a kiss. It was soft and tender and intense all at the same time. The elation they were both experiencing pouring out as their lips melded together. “Open it” he said against her lips. He pressed one last kiss against her lips before pulling back completely.

When Audrey opened the box, her breath caught in her throat. The ring wasn’t anything fancy. Audrey didn’t like fancy. It was a simple silver band with a diamond jewel hoisted in the middle, but the fluorescent lights of the hospital room captured the shine of the ring making it shimmer brightly. 

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. 

Removing the small box from her hand, Neil took out the ring and slid it on Audrey’s ring finger then wrapped her hand between both of his and brought it to his lips, kissing gently. 

“We’re having a baby,” Audrey said, choking out a small laugh through her tears, still unable to process all that had happened in such a short amount of time. She was certain tomorrow she would wake up forgetting all that had happened that night, only to be reminded in the most wonderful of ways. 

“We’re having a baby and we’re engaged.” 

“I’m so happy.”

“Me too.”


End file.
